I'm scared to death about getting outgassing & bubbles. What can I do to prevent this? Also, has anyone tried this color combination?, do you think this will work?
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bassman45 |
Pt-100 Epoxy |
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I'm doing an Epoxy PT-100 Crystal Clear Epoxy job with Reflector (Charcoal base color, Silver & Gun Metal highlights).
I'm scared to death about getting outgassing & bubbles. What can I do to prevent this? Also, has anyone tried this color combination?, do you think this will work?
Last Edited By: bassman45 06/20/10 04:56 PM.
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BS |
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Base coat should lock everything in. Shouldn't have problems with bubbles in money coat.
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flaconcrete |
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If you put down either the VB-5 or PT-4 as a first coat, they will close up the concrete and prevent outgassing.
Charcoal with Gun Metal or vice versa is a nice combo, have not tried it with the silver. Elite Crete Ft. Myers |
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DCS Inc |
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Have you tried a sample board yet to see how the combo works. You will find the silver to be heavy and want to drop out quicker than the other colors. Keep it stirred. I suggest adding just a little silver and not load it heavy.
As far a gassing.... Do your poor mans vapor test, 2x2 plastic taped down. Leave it for a minimum 24 hours. Pull up and check for darkness of the concrete. If ANY signs, do a real test to see how much moisture is coming through. (You need to have a area that is clean to do this on). Do all of your prep dry. Diamond grind, denatured alcohol for final "mop" to pick up fine dust. Turn off all air movement at time of placement. Make sure the humidity levels are not high, (dehumidifier) It is also a good idea to have the air temp decending when you start. Crystal: It has a long work time. I'm telling guys 1 hour. You actually have 1.5 hours and it will still self level. Now that is from the time you mix the 2 together. If you poke around and leave it in the mix bucket too long, that window shortens pretty fast. I personaly like applying a color base coat first and stretch it thin, then my "money coat" within 24 hours. If I have a lot of trash in my base coat, I will do a light sand to level out. Denatured wipe with micro fiber pad and start applying. Talk to your distributor on application methods. It's like any epoxy, I have my own preferences. I will tell you for best finish, figure at least 80 sq. ft. per gallon. I will also strongly suggest you play with it first before applying it on a paying job. Bubbles, have spiked shoes. Depending on when they appear, small area, heat gun. Large area, magic trowel, spike roller, or...... (I haven't tried it yet on the Crystal yet but it works on the UV1), a very light spray of Hydra Stone Reducer. All of this within the 1 hour window. If you approach the 1.5 hour window, be careful as it wont self level well after that. Here's my suggestion on your color combo: I would apply a PT4 color base coat of either medium or light gray at 200 sq. ft. per gallon. Let dry then mix the charcoal mixed at no more than 1/3 jar per gallon. Put this down at around 90 sq. ft. per gallon. Watch your clock and get back on the slab and apply your accents of gun metal at 1/4 jar per gallon with maybe a table spoon per gallon of the silver mixed in. Keep it stirred as you pour it out willy nilly on the floor. Take your magic trowel and blend it. MAKE A SAMPLE BOARD.......... NOTE: It seems the Marshaltown magic trowel (the one with the screw on handle and replaceable blade) falls apart in the Crystal. I think the glue they use to mount the rubber comes "unglued". Seems the Midwest Rake brand of the magic trowel holds up better. In any event, have several on hand if you use this method of application. This info just came in from one of my contractors on a project he did this last weekend. Another tid-bit: MAKE SURE you have no open silicone type products in the same building you are working in. It will fish eye the crap out of the epoxy if there is ANY airborne. Ask your distributor and compare my notes with his. Take his advise over mine. gene ec-Indy |
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bassman45 |
Gene's response | #4 | ||
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Thanks Gene for your detailed response. I was planning on doing this in one application, but it sounds as if I should do a base application with reflector & 2nd app. with different colors reflector. I like the idea of putting down all the colors together, so they blend, is this not realistic? Is 2 coats exopy standard?
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DCS Inc |
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You can use RE in your first coat but the PT4 colored epoxy would be a better idea. You would have to load the epoxy at least 1, maybe 1.5 cans per gallon to get an opaque coloring applied that thin. I like doing it this way because it locks down the surface and it you have any problems it's on the thin (less expensive) coat. If you attempt to do it in one coat and it goes belly up, you have set yourself up to spend a lot more money. Yes, you could put a thin clear coat on top after sanding and prepping the offending coat, but any bubbles that show all the way to the concrete will have to be attended to first to match the base coloring or you will have to load the "repair coat" with RE again.
Apply RE base color in your "money" coat then go right back on it with your accent colors pouring them in a random fashion. Take your magic trowel and "blend" them in right away. (You have an hour to do so from starting your mix). You can take this several more steps but I don't want to get you into trouble on this one. I suggest at max of 24 hours to recoat PT4 before having to sand it. Now you could use the Crystal on your first coat and use 844 solvent based tint from Sherwin Williams or even the Hydra Stone dyes. No more than 5% by volume...... (you'll need a lot less than that to get an opaque look). You can add a little charcoal reflector to this to "pop" it a little. I'm getting too carried away with this and haven't even touched on what can be done with this stuff. KISS Keep it simple on your first couple applications. Get comfortable with your timing and proper mixing. Know what to do when things are not going right to correct any problems. Sample boards? gene ec-indy |
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Dr K |
large paddle, mix slow speed TWO - 2 minutes | #6 | ||
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do NOT mix and pour entire kit....
all at once 3 gallons at most for one person to work.... first mix your reflector into your resin.... THEN mix resin with hardener...... use a large paddle mix slow speed two - 2 - minutes pour into another bucket scraping the sides mix another thirty - 30 - seconds pour out immedietly into large CORN ROWS then place on floor area with notched squegee Glamour-Krete Unique Cementious Flooring Concepts
Last Edited By: Dr K 06/28/10 05:23 AM.
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DCS Inc |
#7 | |||
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Good tip glams. If you have a lot of walls to cut into you might even consider 1.5 gallon mixes. gene
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bassman45 |
#8 | |||
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Well, attempted floor Friday. We mixed a 3 gallon kit of PT-1, But don't I had a big enough mixing paddle. I had a 3". We mixed & mixed. Question: they say it should be all one color after mixing A & B. We were seeing a little "tail" behind mixing paddle of two different colors even after mixing 10 mins.. Is this common? At that point I figured reflector had to go in. We put in Charcoal reflector & had to mix another 5-10 mins to get that in. I started putting this down, about 1 gal. (15-20 mins) & it set up in bucket within a minute & was junk. Meanwhile, my guy mixed up the other 3 gal kit., divided in half & put gunmetal in one & Silver in the other half. This we were able to put out without problem. We stayed around for about 15 mins & didn't see any bubbles. Went to look today, & a few bubbles had popped up. Got another 4.5 gals. this morning from my rep. Monday, I think I'll sand what we did, wipe with denatured alcohol, & clear coat the 250 SqFt we did with a little RE highlights. Then mix 3 gal kit ( I now have 5" paddle) Separate into our 3 colors & do other half of floor. She loves the coloring so far. A little concerned about bubbles, but I believe we're on our way to a beautiful floor. I hope I've made all the mistakes I can make. I'll keep you posted.
PS: My distributor, John Massery, gave me a good explanation of my problem, I believe. If, I had poured out the first batch of epoxy onto floor, I could have worked it from there, but leaving it in bucket was bad idea. Live & learn.
Last Edited By: bassman45 06/26/10 07:33 PM.
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awildturke |
#9 | |||
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You also mixed epoxy way to long , by the time you got done mixing and epoxy sitting in bucket , i surprise you didnt lose more of it . I didnt one with charcoal and gunmetal mixed together , look in photo gallery under Excel fire protection . Be careful if you use those two , to much of each will turn more silver. tom m
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EliteCreteMN |
#10 | |||
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You should be mixing your RE into Part A or B... BEFORE you blend A&B together. NEVER NEVER NEVER mix epoxy that long. Too much air... Too much time.
Mix part A - 1 minute [or until RE is completely blended] Mix part B - 1 minute In a seperate pail... mix A&B together for 2 minutes wait 1 minute and remix for 30 seconds. Dump ENTIRE BUCKET on the floor and move with squeegee/trowel. Good Luck
Elite Crete of Minnesota
Dan Ryan 10740 Lyndale Ave Bloomington, MN 55420 952.270.5035 [o] 888.883.7115 [f] dan.ryan@elitecrete.com **dan.ryan44 on Skype |
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epofloors |
#11 | |||
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I keep having fisheyes with the PT1...it doesn't matter what I use for a primer or thickness...I get the material on the ground within 5 minutes of being mixed and then squegee it out. is this a problem for anyone else?
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bassman45 |
PT-1 failure | #12 | ||
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As I've said earlier, this is a 500 SqFt floor. We got 1/2 of epoxy done, & 1/2 set up in bucket. The 1/2 of floor we did origianally, set up fine. but there were some spot's I wanted to do better. We sanded, d-alcohol wiped. Mixed 1.5 G PT-1 kit with reflector, put out over already done section. Seemed to go fine. Mixed 3 gal kit & devided into 3 colors of reflector. Poured out & as we worked Epoxy, separated as water would on an oil based floor. We worked it a magic trowel for 2 hrs after until it seemed to be gelling together.Blew out some air bubbles with propane torch. Bottom line: none of it set up. We had dehumidifier going. We did this last Tuesday. I went Saturday & rolled the whole floor. Homeowner said she's call if it set up. No call. Now, I have to scrap all this %#!$ off. I could see the new half not curing, but the part that was already done, & gone over?
Does anyone have an answer? Could there be a problem with the epoxy? We did everything by specs.
Last Edited By: bassman45 07/06/10 05:28 PM.
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